Another PRC plane crash
The PRC has had yet another commercial plane crash. This time, fortunately, it was a commuter plane with low capacity and only 53 people aboard. Except for flag carrier Air China, which had its first and only crash ever a few years ago in Korea, Chinese airlines are notoriously accident-prone. A friend who’s lived there and in Taiwan believes the big problem is twofold: using equipment (such as planes and diagnostic machines) until its useful age is long past, and a work ethic that credits showing up and doing what you’re told as much as it does good job performance. Safety standards have been tightened, and things are probably slowly changing for the better as carriers such as China Southern and China Eastern compete for international business travel. But we’re very fortunate that in the West, our chief worry when we board an airliner involves the quality of the food, service, and in-flight entertainment.
22 November 02:03 EST
I flew China Air to Taipei the first time I visited the East (well, East of the Urals). Bumpy damn ride, but no “we are expecting turbulence”, in fact no explanation of any kind. Turns out we were flying in on the heels of a typhoon. There were ripped up trees all around the airport. The only worse airlines I’ve flown are Aeroflot and JAT (Jugoslavenski AeroTransport). I’ve seen Aeroflot baggage handlers smoking while the plane is being refueled.
Well, flights in to the sub-tropical Pacific from up here are always pretty bad. Atsushi and I have gone to Southeast Asia a half-dozen times, and it’s always pretty choppy. I was in Maui for a conference in January, and we were skidding in all kinds of directions. But yeah, they always told us there was turbulence expected. In fact, my experience with JAL is that when the captain announces at the beginning of the flight that he expects moderate-to-severe turbulence–which my delicate stomach just loves, let me tell you–he and the crew always find a way to avoid it.
China Air’s problem, of course, is that it’s had…is it four fatal crashes since 1998 or so? Several hundred people have been killed. The last one was the plane that broke up on take-off from Taipei, en route for Hong Kong. What was heartbreaking was that it was its last passenger flight before being retired to cargo duty, if I recall correctly. But the other crashes were all due to crew error. Very odd, considering Taiwan’s ascendance as a technological powerhouse.
As far as Aeroflot and the carriers of the old satellite countries go, my friends who used to do business there pre-breakup all agree with you: cabin crewmembers clearly taking shots of vodka or worse while on-duty, SRO flights that lasted 12+ hours, and complete failure to locate smoother altitudes after encountering turbulence. Apparently, Interflug stood out for ineptitude even in that company. One friend was like, “Look at how small that country was! How hard is it to manage to get a plane from one end to the other without mishap?” I’m lucky enough not to have had the, um, pleasure, though.
Asia by Blog
Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature, posted on Monday and Thursday, providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Previous editions can be found here. This edition contains HK’s ripoff Disneyland, potential C…
Asia by Blog
Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature, posted on Monday and Thursday, providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Previous editions can be found here. This edition contains HK’s ripoff Disneyland, potential C…
Have you noticed the HUGE coverage of the crash by the Chinese newspapers? A Chinese journalist and friend of mine brought to my attention that people working at Editorial desks of Chinese Medias would rather cover the plane crash than a mine shaft accident, even though mine shafts accidents are more deadly. As journalists, the identify with “people with high substance”(高素质) who are unlikely to be involved in a mine shaft incident, but are more likely to be involved in a plane crash. A normal reaction.
Charles
I’m sure that’s a big part of it. There’s probably also a sense that (especially, unfortunately, in the PRC) the risk of collapse or fire is one of the work-a-day hazards of being a miner. Not that crashes aren’t a hazard of being a jet passenger, but even on Chinese domestic flights, they’re very, very rare.
I think part of it is the people it effects and the reality that plane crashes will kill those who are living in cities, whereas mine incidents are usually in the countryside. Another issue is the alarming regularity over the past few years of people being killed in mine shafts. Obviously, there are also far greater concerns in US air travel in the aftermath of 911. I think security in Chinese airports is definitely something that can be beefed up.
You’re right; I think people now just accept that Chinese mines are unusually dangerous (and, indeed, there’s been another disaster in the past few days). The dangers in air travel are obvious, but crashes often lend themselves to dramatic rescue attempts and mystery-story follow-up reports about where the fault lies. I hate to sound so cynical–I don’t think editors are thinking strictly in terms of what sells when they decide which of these sorts of stories to emphasize. But it’s natural for them to gravitate toward events that involve the element of surprise or something that needs to be uncovered.